


Stories After Dark

by fullamoxie



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: F/F, Ghost Stories, Kissing, Telling Ghost Stories, Tenderness, hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24613804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullamoxie/pseuds/fullamoxie
Summary: As a break from their stressful lives, Ellie and Dina sneak into the empty library at night to tell ghost stories. They're not very scared, but they love to spend time alone together.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 72





	Stories After Dark

Not long after the sun set over Jackson, Ellie zipped up her hoodie and crept quietly out to the living room. Joel was asleep on their torn up sofa, but he stirred when Ellie approached. She sighed, and stopped. Surely, the old man would lecture her on nighttime safety, things she’d heard hundreds of times by now. Ellie would appreciate it a lot more if it weren’t annoyingly repetitive and overbearing, what with the safety of their walled settlement. However, she stopped and waited.

Joel yawned, smacked his lips, and looked around, suddenly frantic. When he saw her, he sighed with relief. “Hey, kiddo,” he said, now calm.

“Hey,” Ellie replied.

Joel glanced at the coffee table, where a book Maria had recommended to him sat, pages folded beneath the back of the book. His gaze returned to Ellie, and he continued. “You goin’ out with that girl again?” Ellie nodded. Joel sighed. “Promise you’ll be safe, okay? I know you’re all grown up now, but I just... I worry about you, baby girl.”

“I know,” Ellie said.

“Try to be back soon, okay?”

“I will,” she said. Joel nodded and said goodbye. Ellie gave him a quiet wave and left.

Outside, the streets were quiet. Everyone who hadn’t gone to bed was on patrol, far from Joel and Ellie’s house in what passed as the community’s suburbs. The library, where Ellie and Dina met every week, was only a few streets away. Ellie figured that Dina would be waiting. She always was; not once had Ellie ever made it there faster than her girlfriend.

She pushed open the rusted back door, quietly (as they weren’t _technically_ allowed in the library after dark), and squeezed her way through. Everyone in town had donated what they had to the library (which had been ransacked long ago), but still the shelves were half empty, and mostly contained comics, dictionaries, survival manuals, and a great number of textbooks.

Ellie quickly navigated the shelves and came to the reading area in the center. The atrium above was broken, and a shaft of moonlight cut through to the heart of the building, illuminating two chairs, a table with a stack of books and a lantern, and her beautiful girlfriend. Ellie grinned from the darkness, and called out to her. Dina turned around and matched Ellie’s smile.

“Late again,” Dina said, playfully. Ellie rolled her eyes.

“Hey, it’s not my fault!” she said, just as playfully in response. “Joel always has to lecture me, whenever I go anywhere!” Dina giggled, and Ellie continued. “What would even happen at a library in the middle of town?!”

When Dina’s giggling had subsided, she sat down one of the chairs they’d brought in a few weeks before, after their asses had grown tired of the moldy carpet. She patted the seat across from her and turned on the lantern. Ellie sat down, smiling at her girlfriend.

“Hope you brought your A-game, Ellie, because _my_ story is gonna knock you on your ass,” Dina said, uncorking a bottle of wine she’d brought for the occasion. Ellie smiled.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she said, grinning. “I have a real winner tonight.” 

It had begun weeks ago as an excuse to spend a few hours alone. After their first kiss, the duo had left the party with a stolen bottle of alcohol and the intent to down it all. They found out that the library was easy enough to sneak into, and completely empty at night, so in they went for their alone time.

However, both of them had been unsure of what to do. So, Dina, looking around at the titles nearby, asked Ellie a question. “Hey Ellie,” she said. “Do you believe in ghosts?” Ellie thought for a moment before replying. 

“I used to be on the fence,” she said, “but then something happened.” Over the next hour, she told Dina a (heavily edited) retelling of [her and Joel’s trek across America, and the woman who had haunted that journey](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23940913). When Ellie had finished, Dina looked shocked and surprised. “Damn,” she whispered. “And that was real? That _actually_ happened to you?”

“Yep,” Ellie said, taking a sip from the bottle, smiling slightly at Dina’s reaction. “What about you, though? Do _you_ believe in ghosts?”

Dina yawned. “Let’s do this again next week,” she said. “I want to tell you _my_ story, but we’re on patrol in the morning.”

The next week, she told her story. The week after, they each told a story they’d heard from others, and soon enough, the meetings became almost involuntary; an unwritten, fixed part of both of their schedules. Neither of them ever felt particularly _scared_ by the spooky stories, considering the horrible things each had lived through, but they loved to hear one another’s voice, and they enjoyed these quiet moments alone.

“My story tonight,” Ellie began, presently, “is about Old Herbert.”  
  
“Ooooh,” Dina said, wiggling her fingers and smiling brightly.

“He was a lighthouse keeper, back in Boston,” Ellie explained, “back before the infection. He lived with his wife on a rocky island near the city. Anything they wanted, they had to order from town. One year, his wife says she wants to learn how to play the piano. Herbert says, ‘Alright,’ and orders one. But the piano only comes with one thing of sheet music. 

“At first, Herbert was fine. He thought ‘We can order some more sheet music when she gets good at that song,’ and so he let her practice. But not even a week later, a blizzard hit. The boats couldn’t sail to the rocky island in such shitty weather, so they couldn’t order more sheet music. Herbert’s wife kept playing piano to pass the time, and soon, he got sick of the song. He told her to stop playing it, or to play something else, but she didn’t. It was all she knew, and there was nothing else to do!

“After weeks of listening to the same song, something in Herbert snapped. He took his axe and brought it down into the piano, again and again, until it was only a pile of splinters. Then, he grabbed his terrified wife, and he locked her down in the basement.

“When everything thawed in spring, ships began to crash because the lighthouse wasn’t lighting up at night, so they sent the police to the island to see what had happened. They found Herbert’s body at the bottom of the stairs, like he’d been pushed down. When they dusted for prints, they found his wife’s handprint on Herbert’s jacket, so they began a search for her.

“They found her soon enough. One of the cops broke down the locked door to the basement and found her rotting body, still chained up in the basement.

“The lighthouse was decommissioned and the light was removed, but for years after that, people say they saw it’s light shining out over the sea.”

When Ellie had finished her story, she leaned back and took another swig of the wine. Dina let out a held breath, and then giggled. “Damn, Ellie!” she said. Ellie grinned. “That _was_ a good one!”

“Thank you, thank you,” Ellie said, mock bowing and chuckling. She soon became lost, looking at Dina’s face, so distracted by how pretty her girlfriend was that she missed the question Dina asked.

“Huh?” she asked.

“Who told you that story?” Dina repeated, giving a little laugh.

“Uh,” Ellie thought about Riley. “Just. . . an old friend, back from Boston.”

“Not your old man?” Dina asked, but Ellie shook her head.

“What’s your story?” Ellie asked, not wanting to dwell on Joel. This was hers and Dina’s private time; talks about dads could wait for later.

“I thought you’d never ask!” Dina said, before diving into her own story. “A long time ago, there was a little girl named Amy. She was at a summer camp in the woods— you know, with kids in cabins, where they did “group activities” and went for canoe rides?” Ellie blinked blankly back at her. “Whatever. It was a real thing.”

“They were all sitting down at a campfire when Amy heard something rustling in the bush just outside of the campfire’s light. She’d wanted to find a rabbit, or a squirrel or something, to take home as a pet, so she quietly snuck away.

“A few minutes later, the camp counselors— who were in charge? I think? —noticed that Amy was missing. They sent the campers back to their cabins, and a few of them went out to look for her.

“About an hour later, as everyone’s tucked in bed, a storm hits. All the counselors come back except one, who is deadset on finding Amy. All through the night, the campers can hear her out in the woods, calling out for Amy. ‘Amy, Amy, where are you, Amy?’ she called, all the way until morning.

“When the sun rises, they found Amy in her cabin. She said she went back to the cabin when the storm hit, and didn’t even know everyone was looking for her. But the counselor, she hadn’t come back yet!”  
  
“Oh no,” Ellie whispered.

“They say that if you listen carefully, you can still hear her looking for Amy, calling her name. ‘Amy, Amy! Where are you, Amy?’” Dina said, finishing her story.

Ellie began to applaud, and Dina laughed. They each opened their mouths to speak, but both stopped. A chilly wind swept through the building, causing both of the women to shiver.

“Well, that was great,” Ellie said, standing. “But I should probably head home.”  
  
“Aw, so soon?” Dina asked. They embraced, and held that embrace for a good minute. When Ellie let go, Dina leaned in and planted a soft kiss on her lips. Ellie grinned. “Same time next week, right?” Dina finished. Ellie, giddy from the kiss, nodded. She took Dina’s hand and they headed to the exit.

Ellie carefully pushed open the rusty back door, and slipped through. She held it for Dina.

“You know, this—“ Dina began, but Ellie shushed her.

“Hold on,” she whispered. “Do you hear that?” Dina froze, and listened.

Out from somewhere in the empty, dimly-lit streets of Jackson, a voice called out. The few words it spoke was enough to dry both of their throats. Their hearts beat a little faster as they parsed what it had said: “Amy, Amy, Where are you, Amy?”

Ellie squeezed Dina’s hand just a little tighter. “You can. . . probably stay at my place,” she said quickly. Dina nodded, wordlessly, and the two of them sped back to Ellie’s house, grateful for each other’s warmth against the cold air, and for each other’s company on the dark streets.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to @chzu for beta-reading it for me and to my twit mutual diamond (@angelknvs on twitter!) for workshopping it with me!


End file.
